I've had THE BEST beef and vegetable soup I've had in my life at Lunchbox.
Their sandwiches are also damn good. With a side salad and coffee later, its a perfect lunch, specially as they offer some organic free range meats in them.

I went there once and they desperately needed more servers. Waiting 25 minutes for a sandwich in a cafeteria-type restaurant is not acceptable, specially when people arriving later are getting served sooner. I was upset. But the sandwich was redeeming. Overall very good food, and service is good and friendly, when it's not too busy.

I hope they sort out the server situation. Also, the place is a god dang garage.

I've tried the sandwiches twice actually, and that's it. They were average.
Besides small cookies and desserts, I've mostly had their coffee, which is pretty good.

But if you want to have a coffee, snack, and use your computer while being inspired, Villagio is the best coffee shop in all Vancouver to do so. Staff is friendly, everything is clean.

$2 for a medium coffee is standard pretty much all throughout town - why pay that in a dingy joint when you can do so at this nice place ? I see business regulars there all the time eating lunch, so I think lunch has to be pretty decent.

They do fine, it's not like they need your business, being located in such a pristine area. But come here !

Good for lunch. Prompt service if you arrive on the early side, 11-11:45 am. After noon, the lone waitress can only do so much. The food is pretty good, good portions and taste. Get the Lunch Special Chicken Breast. You will not regret it. $10 well spent, specially considering the tough competition in the neighborhood for the lunch crowd.

Not great, but pretty good place. Cannot comment on dinner prices and value.

Being next door to Kingyo - a fantastically run restaurant and a favorite of mine - cannot be easy. But if anyone can do it, it's Damso.

I believe in you Damso. You have a squeaky clean and sleek ambiance, good service people behind the counter and above all, great food. Really, really nice food. Best multigrain rice I remember eating in Vancouver. Delicious Korean accompaniment dishes. Damn nice Bibimbop, Bulgogi beef and spicy chicken. Great stone bowls and cutlery.

I don't eat Korean frequently, but I've been to most Korean places downtown once. This one is the best, hands down. Go here !

The location and view are really spectacular - the hustle of the bay with backdrop of the mountains. Really beautiful.

The food...sucks. Disgusting manhattan clam chowder, pretty bad burger too. No fresh oysters ?! How can you not have fresh oysters at a seafood restaurant ? They hadn't run out, they were just not on the menu.

If I came back it'd be for a coffee, so I can sit down and enjoy being there without having to shove down some nasty grub.

Meh...food is good. In house tortillas are a nice touch. I don't eat cheese or soy cheese, so it all felt a little bland without it. But the tacos I had were actually quite creative for being veggie - not bad.

Service is lackluster and didn't like the attitude of our waitress. Ambiance ? Needs a good dusting. So do most of the patrons. But I'd probably come back if I'm in the neighborhood and feel like some nice corn tortillas, mediocre toppings and hipster bangs.

Taste of Paradise has the best falafel in Vancouver beyond a shadow of a doubt. The only place that comes close is Nuba, and they are a lot more expensive and not quite as good. The big secret ? Fresh fried, every time. So crunchy and tasty...perfect ! Really green too, with lots of nice herbs inside. The other bland, brown, reheated soggy sandwiches will pale in comparison.

The service is good, and good prices too. The ambiance is nothing special, and the only detriment. I prefer take out.

Take this from a guy who has sampled falafels all across Vancouver for the last 6 years: Taste of Paradise has the best ones. I drove from the West End to Commercial Drive couple nights ago solely for these falafels, and I'd do it again at the drop of a dime.

P.S. I've only ever tried their falafel, but I hear their other food is pretty good too.

After reading many great reviews on House of Dosas, and hearing amazing things about it from some friends, I finally decided to try this small restaurant.

First of all, cash only puts me off a little. Sure, it's better for them - they don't pay the debit/credit fees, but I had to withdraw money from a close-by ATM not from my bank. Not a great start. Inside, it was crazy busy; being Monday night all dosas are $5.99. Regardless, we were seated adequately within 15 minutes. The place is small, nothing special.

Decor is sub par , bland . Couple TV's playing sports, nothing really said 'India' in there. The staff and service was pretty great though - hard working , attentive, on top of stuff. Good job there. The food arrived, promptly.

Veggie Pakora were pretty good, tiny bit soggy but good overall. My impression of the Dosa ? Not great. One of the chutneys was ok, but overall I didn't enjoy the taste experience. The crepe just didn't seem to go well with the food inside, I thought. I appreciate the nutritional value - some good ingredients there, just not very tasty. In the interest of fairness, it is my first Dosa experience.

With all the dosa hype, I was pretty disappointed in their taste. Don't see myself going back, but if dosas are your thing, I can see why you'd like this place.

It's alright. Was really excited about it, walking in looks very memorable. It used to be an old italian coffee joint, you can still see the -Ciao !- signs above old bar. Anyways, decor is very nice and definitely a plus. Its a small place but they have a good arrangement, good vibe and cool music.

The noodles are truly superb and watching the noodle masters in action is always entertaining. Not very flavorful though , really think the food overall needs some tightening up. Specially starting with such fresh raw materials as in-house made noodles, the final dishes should blow me away - they don't really though. Appetizers seem to be better than entrees.

Getting charged for tea also upsets me to no end, specially when it is the cheap chinese tea i'm familiar with.

Hipster laden Nuba looks great inside - very nice and trendy, moody lighting and overall great restaurant atmosphere.
Went on a busy friday night and it was at full capacity . Even under these stressful conditions , service was sharp and professional : top-notch.

My girlfriend loves this place and suggested we try it as it's easy on her lactose-allergy: food is nicely labeled as vegetarian or vegan. Going through the menu was a bit more daunting for me with my hipster-allergy, but I finally settled on the beef tenderloin with tahini rice . Sounded great !

The tahini rice ? Too heavy I thought, almost overkill. The meat ? A choice cut of delicious beef, was sadly undercooked
(asked for medium well, received it mostly rare). Baba ghanoush & hummous were standard, nothing special - and my girlfriends' lentil soup was surprisingly bland. All in all was disappointed with food, which is not cheap at around $18 entrees. Portions were decent size.

However, the ambiance and service and overall professionalism of Nuba would make me want to come again.

Dear Nuba -I want to like you. Please make nice food for me next time. And I'll write a better review for you.

Kingyo looks great, and doesn't disappoint. I have only been for lunch and consider it to be a solid deal - but hardly anything more.

Sure, the ambiance is unsurpassed as far as Japanese restaurants in town, which in Vancouver, easily number in the thousands in Vancouver metro alone. So that is amazing by itself. The music is mostly cool and thoughtful, but at points tries too hard and I just wanna be left alone with my lunch and not necessarily listen to an exciting Kingyos DJ set.

Service is fast and very good. I think most lunch items are good value for around $10, but they are obviously pricier in evening. I'd still consider going in evening, seeing as it keeps pretty late hours which is sometimes handy.

But in all honesty the food looks more exciting than it tastes - its prepared very nicely for sure, but my eyes are more impressed than my tastebuds. Now if I could just find a way to eat the decor ...

The food is on the cheaper side, and I understand that the layout of the restaurant and amount of customer traffic it receives makes it a logistical nightmare to maintain good service and consistent quality. I also understand the servers are overworked, and if you serve thousands of people on a single day , you are bound to piss off some of them .

Last time there, I was that pissed off customer.

My noodles were *swimming* in oil unlike any dish I've ever had in any Vancouver restaurant. As I complained to a manager type, he condescendingly explained that Chinese noodles are deep fried like I was a 2 year old. My stomach was very upset later that day. So was my wallet: although $9 wasn't very much for that oily noodle dish , the accompanying spring rolls were also oily, and the other two vegetarian soups ordered were bland and MSG ladden. So it turned out to be around $30 for a bland and oily experience.

I admire what they are trying to do, specially with the separate Vegetarian kitchen and menu. Just be wary, there is a chance the service and food will be terrible. And if you complain, they'll brush it off like nothing. Kinda like the feeling you get complaining to an Airline: absolutely futile.

I would definitely recommend the smaller Chinatown Hon's over this one.

The highlight of every Chinatown trip lately has been a visit to Golden Garden Vietnamese.

Simple yet elegant decor, and very clean; but the real treat here is the food. The usual Vietnamese fare, including top-notch spring rolls, tasty soups and good fish. The value is pretty good, and consistent quality. Can easily have a satisfying lunch for two for $20 including tax and tip. Not crazy cheap, but adequately priced.

Service is prompt and friendly, they have a good system set up there. Good service industry people, and people notice this. I've been to a bunch of the Chinatown restaurants, and realize its almost impossible to spend less than $10 on a personal meal down there: Golden Garden will deliver in this respect, more so than similarly priced Chinese places around.

The place is small, and the ambiance is definitely cheap looking and sub-par. At least it's clean.

But the food is good, and the prices are great. Besides, the portions are definitely larger than average and you feel like you are getting a great value , which is no ordinary feat considering the amount of sushi places in town and in the area in particular.

The service and staff are definitely friendly and welcoming. If you live close to it I would recommend making it your go-to takeout facility, as you won't have to deal with the bad ambiance, you can call ahead to avoid the long wait times other people have griped about , and best of all: you will get the best value in the neighborhood for decent , solid sushi.

Highlights: I think the $20 party tray is a steal for how huge it is. Feeds at least 3 hungry people.

I have been to Seri Malaysia several times, and the food is always consistently good. The chef has been cooking Malaysian food for a long time, and it shows both in how fast he whips it up, and in how tasty it is.

The ambiance, as has been said before, is not attractive. Very sparse and dull , and not the greatest location either.
But the food is the main highlight here : delicious, authentic and cheap ! Specially when compared to other Malaysian fare in town, I truly think Seri Malaysia offers the best value for your money. The place is understaffed most of the time, but the chef/owner/server is so competent that you hardly notice it most of the time.

Don't be mislead if you don't see very many patrons : this is due mostly to the location and doesn't reflect on the quality of the food. The food...mmm...it will be good !

I used to live a few blocks away from Axum , and frequented it often. I went for the healthy and delicious food, the warm welcomes and exceptional value for your dollar. I now live halfway across town, and am still prepared to make the trip out there on a monthly basis; I would not do this for any other Ethiopian place in town.

The weakest link is the ambiance and location. Don't get me wrong: it's perfectly clean, good variety of African music on the speakers and accordingly decorated, just don't expect to be dazzled. And the mostly industrial location is a bit out of the way.

That being said, I for one don't spend my dining dollars on flamboyance and flair but on solid, nutritious and authentic food. Service is prompt, the feeling homely and cozy, and the food is almost impeccable ( very competitively priced too ! ) . The owner has a thorough understanding of proper and tasty nutrition and her food reflects this to my full satisfaction.

Have been to Nyala, Gojo Little Africa and another Ethiopian place on Commercial Drive : they are good places. But I would recommend Axum best of all. Best Ethiopian in Vancouver according to this reviewer.